Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/163

 IV. THE THESEUM, THE ERECHTHEUM, AND OTHER WORKS. " The Greeks were the first people that were born into C07nplete humanity. The nations before them had been, and all around them still were, partly savage. But the power of a new spirit came upon the Greeks, and the stones were filled with breath" — RuSKIN. The "Theseum," or Temple of Hephaistos. Of the Theseum the only actual fragments in the Museum are those belonging to the ceiling of the peristyle. One is a thick marble slab pierced with six holes 7 inches square, as much being left between ; the others are little covering panels which fitted into rebates on the upper side, being very thin and light. There are also valuable casts of the frieze taken a hundred years ago. This frieze has many points of resemblance to that of the Parthenon, and to its metopes. The central group was again an assembly of gods watching a battle — a subject found also at the temple of Nike, and earlier at Delphi. The building throughout, although much smaller,* recalls in its details the Parthenon to such a degree that the question of priority is of some historical importance. It is almost as " harmonious in its proportions, and as refined and perfect in its construction." f The inclination of its columns is exactly similar, their entasis is more delicate, and even the inclined lines of the pediment are said to have a slight vertical curvature. With all the many points of likeness to the Parthenon, there are also differences which bring it into relation with other Doric buildings. Though the date of the Parthenon is accurately known, its place in the sequence of development is hardly yet established. the columns, and 30 feet from the platform to the top of the pediment, t Penrose. N
 * Its size may best be remembered as c. 100x40 feet to the centre lines of